Dundee, New York. September 13th, 2024. Nick Fillman, USAC ECSC
For the first time ever, the Rapid Tire Services, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series, Presented by Capitol Renegade tour made its way to the banks of the Outlaw Speedway, in Dundee, New York as a part of the annual Ted Siri Memorial, with a $4,000 Pay Day on the line.
At the conclusion of heat race action and redraw procedure, Christian Bruno and Bruce Buckwalter Jr lead the field to green for the 25 lap feature event. Bruno secured the early race lead and tried to run away from Briggs Danner and the rest of the field to try and claim his second feature event win of the season.
Steven Drevicki and Briggs Danner who started third and fourth, went to their routine lines right away as Drevicki immediately went to the bottom side of the speedway in his quest for the feature event lead. Briggs Danner on the other hand, tried the middle side of the speedway, before jumping to the top side of the speedway and ripping the very thin cushion around the Outlaw Speedway.
Danner quickly, and methodically reeled in Bruno for the feature event lead, before completing the pass at the completion of lap five, officially being the leader on lap six. Bruno held strong in second over a hard charging Steven Drevicki, Bruce Buckwalter in fourth, and Carmen Perigo jr rounding out the top five.
Drevicki closed in on Bruno and eventually moved by the young New Jersey driver for the runner up spot later on in the feature event, but up front it was all Briggs Danner as he had rallied to a three-quarter track lead, and lapped cars inside the top six.
Late in the event came a huge run from Fultonville, New York driver Chase Moran, who copied the line of Danner and picked off Perigo for fifth, then worked on Buckwalter for fourth, finally moving by Bruno for third in the closing handful of laps, coming just short of mounting a charge on Drevicki for the runner up spot.
Up front it was a dominating win for Briggs Danner as he became the first ever USAC East Coast Winner at Outlaw Speedway, and scored a $4,000 payday. Steven Drevicki finished in the runner up spot adding to his points lead, with Chase Moran, Christian Bruno, and Bruce Buckwalter Jr completing the top five.
Briggs Danner picked up his fifth win of the season with the USAC East Coast Series, and his second win with elevated pay as the was the $5,000 Gallagher Memorial winner at Williams Grove in June. Danner joins drivers: Eddie Strada, Steven Drevicki, Billy VanInwegen, and Danny Varin as winners in the state of New York. Despite missing a number of shows this season, Danner now finds himself within the top five in the series points standings with only one points paying event remaining.
Steven Drevicki is known for his slick track specialties, came into the night at Outlaw not only with eyes on him as the points leader, but as a potential feature event winner. Try as he might, Drevicki was unable to catch Danner for the feature event lead with Danner’s blistering pace. With the events at the Bridgeport Motorsports Park in October now cancelled, Steven Drevicki will become a four time series champion at the event at the Georgetown Speedway.
The most impressive run of the evening came from Fultonville, New York driver Chase Moran. Moran discovered the high side of the speedway that Briggs Danner had been running late in the feature event, and was able to mount a charge through the field to the final podium position. Post race in the pit area, Moran explained that it was one of the most fun experiences that he has had in a sprint car and with wingless racing, and intends on potentially running some more races with the series in the future.
Christian Bruno has been red hot this season with both their family owned sprint car program, and the 600 Sprint teams that he competes regularly with. Bruno has been on a career stretch of runs with a Win at Port Royal, runner up at Action Track USA, and now a fourth at Outlaw for the team. Look for Bruno to contend for more victories to close the season, and into 2025.
Despite losing a car at the Port Royal Speedway in August and moving to last years car, Bruce Buckwalter Jr has had a banner 2024 season. While unfortunate that Ed Aikin was unable to make the tow to New York, Buckwalter was able to capitalize on his absence, coupled with a great race result, he has now taken over the final podium position in the series points standings.
Up next for the series is a trip south to the Georgetown Speedway on Friday, September 27th for the series points finale!
USAC East Coast at Outlaw Speedway Results:
Heat 1 (10 Laps, 4 redraw, All Qualify): 1. 17-Christian Bruno[3]; 2. 39-Briggs Danner[10]; 3. 19-Steven Drevicki[11]; 4. 83-Bruce Buckwalter Jr[5]; 5. 21-Carmen Perigo Jr[4]; 6. 4P-Chase Moran[8]; 7. 78-Dale Schweikart[1]; 8. 51-Mike Haggenbottom[6]; 9. 44-Gary Huston[2]; 10. 51U-Shelby Kelly[7]; 11. 2-Brendan Hires[9]
Feature Event (25 Laps): 1. 39-Briggs Danner[3]; 2. 19-Steven Drevicki[4]; 3. 4P-Chase Moran[6]; 4. 17-Christian Bruno[1]; 5. 83-Bruce Buckwalter Jr[2]; 6. 21-Carmen Perigo Jr[5]; 7. 78-Dale Schweikart[7]; 8. 51-Mike Haggenbottom[8]; 9. 2-Brendan Hires[11]; 10. 51U-Shelby Kelly[10]; 11. 44-Gary Huston[9]